Semi wreck shuts down 259 North

An early morning tractor-trailer wreck shut down Highway 259 north for more than eight hours on Tuesday, November 12.

According to a police report filed with the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office, 55-year-old James Reliford of Greensburg was travelling north in a tractor-trailer belonging to Tompson Trucking, of Mt. Sherman, when his vehicle veered off of the roadway on the left side.

A heavy load of wood chips pulled the semi further off of the roadway, Reliford told officers, and caused the truck to overturn after travelling nearly 180 feet across a lawn and driveway and hitting a utility pole.

Once the semi overturned, it travelled approximately 120 feet further and came to a rest on its side.

Reliford was not injured in the accident, though damage was noted to a gas meter belonging to Leitchfield Utilities, telephone poles belonging to Windstream, and the property of Russell Willis.

The roadway was closed when police arrived on scene at 3:36 a.m., and remained closed while clean-up crews worked until noon.

A second accident on Tuesday slowed traffic along Elizabethtown Road, a half mile east of Clarkson, when a 1998 Mitsubishi Mirage overturned and slid down an embankment.

The vehicle, which was being driven by 27-year-old Thomas Lindsey, of Leitchfield, was travelling west at just before 8 a.m. when it reportedly hit a slick spot in the roadway.

Lindsey told responding officer Tony Willen that he lost control of the vehicle at that point and left the roadway on the left-hand side before the car flipped and came to a rest at the bottom of the embankment.

Lindsey was uninjured and declined medical treatment, though the vehicle was severely damaged.

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